Florida Panthers fall 3-2 in OT, series even 3-3

April 25, 2012|By Harvey Fialkov, Sun Sentinel

NEWARK, N.J. — — The Panthers have waited nearly 16 years to win their first playoff series. What's another two days?

Perhaps by Thursday night's Game 7 at the BankAtlantic Center, the Panthers will have their starting goaltender back in the nets as last-minute replacement Scott Clemmensen turned in a sterling effort but couldn't prevent a dramatic 3-2 overtime loss in a sold-out Prudential Center on Tuesday night.

The Panthers, who tied an NHL record with 18 post-regulation defeats this season, fell to 2-4 in postseason overtime affairs, including the last four.

With Panthers goalie Jose Theodore scratched earlier in the day with what's believed to be a minor knee injury, Clemmensen was called to duty to put the proverbial nail in his former team's coffin. However, the more-desperate Devils unleashed a barrage of 42 shots to Florida's 16, including the game-winner on Travis Zajac's wrist shot 5:39 into the first OT of the series.

After a failed two-on-one Panthers' rush, Zajac was freed up on a slick pass from frustrated superstar Ilya Kovalchuk, who also scored a power-play goal, to draw the series even at 3-3.

"We expected it to be a tight game. We were in a position to win going into the third period and playing overtime on the road,'' Clemmensen said. "We knew it wasn't going to be easy. It could've gone either way.''

Devils fans then littered the ice with their red rally towels and covered up several of the lonley rubber rats that smacked down.

"It's probably their best game of the series,'' said Panthers coach Kevin Dineen. "They had a heckuva lot of desperation and they pushed hard. I thought the last 30 minutes were even, entertainment on both ends of the ice.

"Clem did a great job, made the big saves [other than the first one] but when you look at his overall body of work I thought he did a heckuva job.''

The Panthers' only other Game 7 in franchise history came on June 1, 1996 when they beat the Penguins 4-1 in Pittsburgh to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. They're now 3-2 in playoff-clinching elimination games.

The Devils are 6-7 in Game 7s, with their most recent appearance a Game 7 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in a 2008-09 quarterfinal. They also haven't won consecutive playoff games in their last 28 games, or since 2007 when they won three straight to take a quarterfinal-round matchup with the Lightning.

Tied at 2-2 heading into the third period, the Panthers killed off a 29-second, two-man advantage and Clemmensen would later rob Alexei Ponikarovsky of a point-blank blast.

Down 2-0 in the second period, Devils killer Kris Versteeg took a sweet feed in the slot from Stephen Weiss and beat Brodeur cleanly at 7:05. It was Versteeg's third goal of the series and he has eight goals and 11 points in 10 games against New Jersey this season. That would end the silly stat that had a team leading 3-0 in every one of the first five games.

Just five minutes later, after a flop by Kovalchuk set up an odd-man rush in which fill-in defenseman Tyson Strachan unleashed a wrist shot that trickled behind Marty Brodeur, where an alert Sean Bergeneheim pounced and poked it in for a 2-2 tie at 12:49.

"It's already forgotten. I'm looking forward to Game 7, it's going to be in our home barn,'' Bergenheim said. "They won the battles, had more shots; our energy wasn't there for us today. I have no doubt we'll h have the energy for Game 7.

"Fans, please bring [the rats].''

In an intensely played first period the former Panthers' duo of Ryan Carter and Steve Bernier struck again, with Bernier spinning around and surprising Clemmensen from a difficult angle for his second goal of the season with 3:23 left.